The M3 has always held the benchmark- it was always the one everything else was compared to. It's handling, power to weight, purist appeal, and quality have always set the standard by a wide margin. The problem I see is with cars such as this new GT 500, those margins are getting much slimmer. If BMW M is concerned about sales figures, they should come up with something extreme like this, that puts them clearly out in front again. Create an M3 with a 550 hp V-10 and people would sell their kid to buy one.